Ozone Park, Queens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ozone Park is a New York City neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the borough of Queens bordering Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Howard Beach, and the borough of Brooklyn, about 8 miles east, southeast of Midtown Manhattan. The northern border is Atlantic Avenue, west border is Drew Street (City Line) at the Brooklyn border, south border is South Conduit Avenue, and the east is 108th Street. It is the home of the Aqueduct Racetrack, a popular spot for thoroughbred racing.
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[edit] History
Housing was first developed in the area after the Long Island Rail Road began service through the area in 1880 as part of its route from Long Island City to Howard Beach. The name "Ozone Park" was chosen to "lure buyers with the idea of refreshing breezes blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean to a parklike community"<ref>If You're Thinking of Living In/Ozone Park; Changing Faces, Enduring Values, The New York Times, October 5, 2003</ref>.
Ozone Park was widely perceived as a center for mafia activities until the early 1990s. Lucchese crime family members and mob associates owned many businesses throughout Ozone Park.
John Gotti co-opted the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club which is located in the neighborhood and would host a huge block party and fireworks show along 101st Avenue every July 4th. After he went to prison, neighborhood residents protested his incarceration. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani became very unpopular here in the late 1990s when he denied local residents permits to host similar block parties along 101st Avenue in an effort to appear to apply uniform enforcement on such events city-wide.
Thomas DeSimone, a Lucchese crime family associate, shared an apartment here, with his then girlfriend, Theresa Ferrara. She was later murdered due to issues involving the Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Her torso eventually was found washed up on the beach.
In the 1990's, the neighborhood's population exploded with new immigrants, increasing the population density and leading to many small private homes being converted to condos and multi-family houses. This has become a major controversy in the neighborhood as longtime residents feel their suburban-like residential streets are beginning to look like more urban parts of the borough, such as Jackson Heights and Astoria.
[edit] Demographics
The makeup of the neighborhood has historically been mostly Italian, Irish and Polish (who continue to hold a strong presence in the neighborhood), but recent immigrants from South Asia, the West Indies and South America have come into the neighborhood. There is a smaller minority of African Americans and Hispanics, mainly closer to the Brooklyn border. These new arrivals have helped Ozone Park becoming one of the fastest-growing and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in New York City. Most residents are middle-class and live in private homes on tree-lined residential streets. There are pockets of wealthier areas in the southern part of the neighborhood close to the Belt Parkway.
[edit] Transportation
There are many bus routes that run through Ozone Park. The Q7 runs on Rockaway Boulevard, Q21 and Q41 run on Cross Bay Boulevard, Q11 up Woodhaven Boulevard, Q112 runs on Liberty Avenue along which the IND A</pre> train becomes elevated (and also makes stops in the neighborhood), the Q8 which runs on 101st Avenue, and the Q24 runs on Atlantic Avenue.
[edit] Notable People from Ozone Park
- Charles Camarda - astronaut, Mission Specialist on STS-114, first space shuttle flight since the loss of the Columbia
- Justin Credible - Professional wrestler
- Tommy DeSimone - Mob associate
- Thomas Joseph Downey- United States Congressman from Suffolk County, New York from 1975-1993.
- Gerald Edelman - 1972 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Peter Facinelli - actor
- John Gotti - Mafia Boss
- Carol Heiss - Olympics figure skater
- Jack Kerouac - writer , although he was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, he lived here with his parents after he was discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1943. He wrote his first novel, The Town and the City, as well as the quintessential On The Road while living in Ozone Park. His friends jokingly called him "The Wizard of Ozone Park" as a play on words referring to the film The Wizard of Oz.
- Cyndi Lauper - actress/singer
- Bernadette Peters - actress/singer
- Debra Wilson - comedian, one of the original cast members on the sketch comedy series MADtv.
[edit] References
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